Cash for Climate Resilience in Nigeria

Last registered on July 08, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Cash for Climate Resilience in Nigeria
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009652
Initial registration date
June 30, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 08, 2022, 9:12 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute
PI Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute
PI Affiliation
International Rescue Committee
PI Affiliation
International Rescue Committee
PI Affiliation
International Rescue Committee
PI Affiliation
International Rescue Committee
PI Affiliation
International Rescue Committee

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-04-01
End date
2022-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
IRC’s central hypothesis for this pilot project is that when climate vulnerable communities have timely access to information and the financial and social resources to act upon that information, they will avoid negative coping strategies and build more diversified and climate resilient livelihoods. Community members are acutely aware of how their environment is changing due to slow and sudden onset climate change, and these communities are rich with historical and new knowledge on climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. However, resource constrained communities lack effective systems to disseminate real-time information about climate risks and their potential severity and many households in resource constrained environments do not possess the financial means to implement adaptive or mitigation measures that would allow them to protect or adapt their livelihoods during a stress and/or shock. This is especially true in conflict-affected communities, where a lack of social cohesion and inter-community economic linkages can exacerbate vulnerabilities.

To test this hypothesis, the IRC will pilot the climate risk reduction payments in Adamawa state (northeast Nigeria) with smallholder farmers and livestock owners. The IRC will apply a systems approach, working within and with the existing ICT (radio, SMS, voice, mobile, etc.) systems, agriculture extension providers, and other key stakeholders within the government and community. Together with the local community, the IRC and Google.org will build on existing community resiliency strategies and local knowledge in developing a climate risk data platform incorporating climate, weather, economic, and crisis indicators—and will make the data available to the community members and local stakeholders. Then, over the course of the agricultural season, the pilot will deliver lump sum cash payments to participating target households when triggered by the data platform’s risk thresholds. IRC will design and implement a cash delivery program with the protection principles outlined in the IRC’s Safer Cash Toolkit, ensuring equitable and safe access for individuals, especially women.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Andam, Kwaw et al. 2022. "Cash for Climate Resilience in Nigeria." AEA RCT Registry. July 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9652-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Over the course of the agricultural season, the pilot will deliver lump sum cash payments to randomly selected households when triggered by the data platform’s risk thresholds. The climate risk reduction payments will be distributed among a random selection of households (e.g. half of them) from the overall sample of 1450 households in 6 communities. The 1450 households were randomly selected using stratified random sampling with proportionate allocation by community and gender from a larger pool of 2090 households enumerated during a blanket targeting exercise. The randomization took place after the baseline, and the control group will receive disaster payments in an ex post manner if deemed necessary. The trial will take place during the 2022 agricultural season in Adamawa state.
Intervention Start Date
2022-06-01
Intervention End Date
2022-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Indices
These indices are all standardized and are being measured at both baseline and endline. Our main interest is in observing if the indices change differently at all, but we will also examine some specific strategies as noted below.
1. Food Consumption Score
2. Household Dietary Diversity Score
3. Reduced Coping Strategies Index
4. Livelihood Coping Strategies Index

Aggregates

We will construct aggregates from the data at baseline and endline; we will take the logarithm of these values and will also test the logarithm plus 1 if there is imbalance in the proportion of households with zero values (and an undefined logarithm) either at baseline or endline. We plan to estimate the values in Naira and winsorize at the 1 percent level. These values are also available at both baseline and endline.

5. Seasonal, non-transfer income
6. Agricultural income
7. Durable assets
8. Number of Livestock, measured in tropical livestock units

Indicators, Measured at Baseline and Endline

These indicator variables are to be measured at both baseline and endline:

9. Employed outside of agricultural work (binary)
10. Use of Climate Adaptive Agricultural Practices (binary)

Indicators, Measured at Endline

These indicator variables will be measured at the endline:

11. Spent cash on any climate resilience activities (binary)
12. Spent cash on productive assets (binary)
13. Percentage of cash spent on any climate resilience activities (continuous)
14. Percentage of cash spent on productive assets (continuous)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The indices we are using are based on standard questionnaires that can be used to measure each of these outcomes; further information can be requested from the project team if needed. Other outcomes are reasonably self-explanatory.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We included additional survey questions on respondents’ life satisfaction and bandwidth depletion/scarcity mindset to explore if this is a pathway linked to either the outcomes or the intervention. The analysis of these variables will be considered exploratory, though we will also examine heterogenous treatment effects and use the same regression model outlined above (See: Primary Outcomes of Interest).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly allocated the 1450 households in the sample into two groups. One group will receive the lump sum cash payments if triggered by the risk thresholds, and the other would receive ex post payments after a disaster occurs.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Household
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
There are 6 villages in the trial.
Sample size: planned number of observations
There are 1450 total observations at baseline.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
There will be 725 households in each treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Considering the indices, we compute that the minimum detectable effect at 1450 observations is approximately 0.17 standard deviations from the baseline means, without any controls for baseline explanatory variables.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
International Food Policy Research Institute
IRB Approval Date
2022-03-20
IRB Approval Number
DSGD-22-0316
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Nigeria Cash for Climate Resilience Project PAP v2 clean.docx

MD5: ac25923c967d81afdf6e8e0a54c26f2b

SHA1: c1373bf55756ac2b01be8d45bcc01cae3c011e90

Uploaded At: June 30, 2022

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials